This video of girls making a Rube Goldberg-type course through and around their house is currently making the rounds of Facebook, especially on some very strong women's and moms' feeds. There is a lot of support for the message - that girls can make and build. And that there is now an engineering construction set to empower them, called Goldie Blox.
What has caught me a little off guard is how big the response has been that "finally, something has come on the market to help empower our girls!"
Don't get me wrong - I think the toy is kind of cool - a set of engineering tasks based around a story. It is just that I may have underestimated the amount of support I already give my kid. (I'm hard enough on my own mothering that I get to give myself kuddos, too). Now, maybe she likes to fix and build more than some other girls, but I'm thinking that I just name it more often - as engineering, as fixing, as problem solving. In trying to come up with things to call her other than cute, and learn ways to talk about what she is doing instead of how pretty or cool it is, I find myself often telling her things about her playing.
And my girl of 4 does a lot of engineering. She wants this doll stroller to have that cup on it and that blanket to hang off the dog crate. And, sometimes together with parents and sometimes on her own (I often ask her how she thinks she could do it, encourage her to try again if it doesn't work as planned, acknowledge how frustrating it can be, and am there to help if she asks), it gets hacked. We have lots of scotch, masking and Japanese tape at her disposal. Kid scissors. Laundry clothespins. Paper and pens/pencils/crayons. Legos and these big cardboard blocks.
Last night, after trying to put a baby doll carrier on her baby doll stroller with a velcro strap that was too short, she found another place to fit it, down below the stroller, and continued on her way, beaming, some 12 stuffed animals accommodated in the process. And I told her what a creative engineer she was. Praised her effort. And then I stood back and smiled with my husband, mostly in awe of this little person who can do so much already.
Just because it is done with a traditionally girls' toy, doesn't mean it isn't engineering. Or problem solving. Our kids are natural problem solvers, and maybe one of the first steps is to identify that for them so they can know it is one of their skills already.
So, in addition to Goldie Blox this holiday, time to start recognizing and naming the multitude of skills our kids show already (compassion, sharing, fixing, persisting, all manner of creating, problem solving, etc.). My daughter may not choose engineering as a career for a multitude of reasons, but it isn't going to be because she doesn't think it is something a girl can do.
What skills and abilities of your child's do you name?
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ReplyDeleteI try to name O's (he's 3.5) emotional and social abilities. He is "emotional" for a boy, at least that is how it is couched. He is a normal pre-schooler trying to understand the complex social relationships that comprise our society. In the Midwest, boys are definitely supposed to be "boys" - rambunctious, loud, dirt-craving, builders. Those are not boy traits - they are preschooler traits. As are the traits of exploring through role-play (including playing "house", etc.). So we try and name all those things in a similar way that you name your little creative engineer. I name O as a caregiver, an artist, a dancer, and a linguist. I don't have girls, but I recognize that tearing down these walls has to come from both sides. And I am so happy to hear that we are all working together on those walls. (Thank you!) :) Here's to allowing our preschoolers to be human!
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